Horsey v. State

747 S.W.2d 748, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 272, 1988 WL 25550
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 28, 1988
Docket14700
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 747 S.W.2d 748 (Horsey v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Horsey v. State, 747 S.W.2d 748, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 272, 1988 WL 25550 (Mo. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinions

MAUS, Judge.

An information charged movant Charles Arthur Horsey committed six counts of receiving stolen property. A jury found him guilty of each count. In accordance with the verdicts he was sentenced to imprisonment for seven years upon each count. It was adjudged the sentences would run consecutively. The judgment was affirmed upon direct appeal. State v. Horsey, 676 S.W.2d 847 (Mo.App.1984).

In this proceeding the movant seeks to set aside that judgment by his motion under Rule 27.26. The motion court denied that motion without a hearing. On appeal from that denial the movant states one point of alleged error. On October 5,1987, this court adopted an opinion affirming the judgment of the motion court. However, upon the basis that a portion of that opinion was in conflict with Green v. State, 721 S.W.2d 197 (Mo.App.1986); Gilmore v. State, 710 S.W.2d 355 (Mo.App.1986); and State ex rel. Westfall v. Campbell, 637 S.W.2d 94 (Mo.App.1982), the case was certified to the Supreme Court. The case has now been retransferred to this court for reconsideration in the light of State v. Gardner, 741 S.W.2d 1 (Mo. banc 1987).

The one point stated in movant’s brief is that his motion “alleged grounds which, both substantively and procedurally, would [750]*750properly have warranted relief.” By argument he contends he pled a basis for relief in that he was impermissibly placed in double jeopardy and that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel because of animosity between the trial judge and his trial counsel. Trial counsel was not mov-ant’s counsel on appeal or in this proceeding.

The standards to determine the adequacy of movant’s pleading and consequently the merit of his contentions are well established. Briefly stated, the determinative standards are as follows. The motion must plead facts that establish the asserted basis for relief. Wade v. State, 698 S.W.2d 621 (Mo.App.1985). A basis for relief is not stated by the allegation of a conclusion or conclusions. Smith v. State, 513 S.W.2d 407 (Mo. banc 1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 911, 95 S.Ct. 832, 42 L.Ed.2d 841 (1975). Those facts must not be refuted by the record. Davis v. State, 600 S.W.2d 613 (Mo.App.1980). Or summarized, “A 27.26 movant, in order to be entitled to an eviden-tiary hearing, must plead facts, not conclusions, which, if true, would entitle him to relief and must show that such factual allegations are not refuted by facts [in the record].” Smith v. State, supra, at 411 (emphasis in original). Further, such a motion may not be used to review “mere trial errors.” Rule 27.26(b)(3); Mahaney v. State, 660 S.W.2d 774 (Mo.App.1983). Nor may it be used to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence. Ardrey v. State, 612 S.W.2d 859 (Mo.App.1981); Achter v. State, 545 S.W.2d 83 (Mo.App.1976).

The allegations in movant’s motion concerning double jeopardy are that “[t]he trial court erred in allowing the prosecution of an indictment whereby the State had taken one offense of ‘Receiving Stolen Property’ and broke [sic] it down into six (6) separate charges in the indictment. The State used the same testimony and evidence to prove each and every count of the indictment.” On the surface the allegation might appear to state facts constituting a basis for relief. However, movant does not allege what single offense has been broken into six offenses. He does not allege the facts constituting the single offense. Nor does he summarize the “same evidence” that he says supported each conviction. Movant’s allegations concerning double jeopardy are of conclusions, not facts. His contention founded on double jeopardy could be properly denied on that basis.

Further, the essence of the argumentive portion of the motion is that “[t]he record before this court will show that the prosecution presented evidence of only one (1) crime, i.e., the defendant received stolen property.” In that portion he cites State ex rel. Westfall v. Campbell, supra, and State v. Toombs, 326 Mo. 981, 34 S.W.2d 61 (1930). In his brief he essentially restates that argument and he cites the same cases. In addition he relies upon Gilmore and quotes therefrom the following. “We here hold that a single act of receiving in one transaction is but one crime, and is not divisible into separate crimes because the stolen property belonged to different owners.” Id. at 358 (emphasis added).

The opinion originally adopted by this court held that a similar limitation was not applicable to a single act of retaining stolen property in contravention of § 570.080, which property had been stolen from different owners and received by a defendant at different times. In so holding, this court adopted the following analysis.

The issue raised by movant’s contention is whether or not the evidence established distinct offenses even though each was a violation of the same statute. The general rule has been stated:

To determine whether a defendant has been subjected to double jeopardy, Missouri courts follow the separate or several offense rule rather than the same transaction rule. State v. Treadway, 558 S.W.2d 646, 651 (Mo. banc 1977), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 838, 99 S.Ct. 124, 58 L.Ed.2d 135 (1978). Under this rule, ‘multiple convictions are permissible if the defendant has in law and in fact committed separate crimes.’ Id. The applicable test, to determine whether several charges are identical, is ‘whether each offense necessitates proof of a fact which the other does not State v. [751]*751Charles, 612 S.W.2d 778, 781 (Mo. banc 1981), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 972, 102 S.Ct. 522, 70 L.Ed.2d 392 (1981).

State v. Lulkowski, 721 S.W.2d 35, 37 (Mo.App.1986) (emphasis added). Also see Cook, Constitutional Rights of the Accused, § 23:8 (2d ed. 1986).

However, this stated test in some instances is difficult of application. It assumes identification of a separate offense that requires proof of a fact not required by another offense. This inadequacy is apparent when the conduct of a defendant is continuous or involves more than one item of property or more than one victim.

In such cases an appropriate test is what, under the statute, the legislature “intended to be the allowable unit of prosecution....” United States v. Marzano, 537 F.2d 257, 272 (7th Cir.1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1038, 97 S.Ct. 734, 50 L.Ed.2d 749 (1977). Or stated another way,

once Congress has defined a statutory offense by its prescription of the ‘allowable unit of prosecution’, ... that prescription determines the scope of protection afforded by a prior conviction or acquittal. Whether a particular course of conduct involves one or more distinct ‘offenses’ under the statute depends on this congressional choice.

Sanabria v. United States, 437 U.S. 54, 69-70, 98 S.Ct. 2170, 2181-2182, 57 L.Ed.2d 48, 57 (1978) (citation omitted).

Under this test the following are examples of conduct held to constitute one allowable unit of prosecution: The simultaneous transportation of two women in interstate commerce for the purpose of prostitution. Bell v. United States, 349 U.S. 81, 75 S.Ct. 620, 99 L.Ed. 905 (1955).

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Horsey v. State
747 S.W.2d 748 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1988)

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Bluebook (online)
747 S.W.2d 748, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 272, 1988 WL 25550, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/horsey-v-state-moctapp-1988.